Monday, February 19, 2007

This past weekend we went to Chicago to see some old friends and for Lidia to participate in the Prairie State Feis. Lidia went to her first feis (Irish dance competition) in St. Paul last September, and this was her second. This feis was much bigger. It was a mad house. There were 1441 partipants!

I cautioned Lidia to not expect a medal this time. It was her first time dancing in the Beginner 2 category. The girls were her age, but many have been dancing for more time. Lidia competed in jig, reel, and slip jig, in that order. Jig is the most challenging dance for Lidia. I think she does much better in the reel and slip jig. When I watched Lidia do her jig and compared her to the other girls, I was dismayed because all of them were doing more complicated steps. However, Lidia gave a very solid performance, and it was good enough for a third place medal! Unfortunately, at this point she started to feel sick. She had a headache and then a stomach ache. She did o.k. in the reel, but it wasn't a Lidia-style reel. She got fifth place. By the time she performed the slip jig, she was not feeling well at all. Also, they had three dancers going at a time for the slip jig, and Lidia's group went first. The three girls had a hard time not bumping into each other, and I could tell that disturbed her. Lidia had been practicing this dance a lot and in the days leading up to the feis she had made tremendous improvement in precision and power. She wasn't able to show it off this time, and she didn't place. Next time!